1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to synthetic sizes for use on yarns and particularly to yarn warp sizes for use in water jet looms.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Specialized product water jet looms offer many advantages over conventional looms in weaving textiles. Originally designed for synthetic filament weaving in plain, twill and satin constructions, these looms are now being used to produce premium price fabrics. Water jet looms can be operated on a seven day basis at one-third the manpower, power and water cost of conventional looms. Further, these looms provide clean working conditions in that wet processing practically eliminates lint and fly. Every function of water jet looms is electrically controlled by the micro-amperage carried by the wet yarn so that any yarn breaks or misinsertions of filling are detected by probes which stop the loom within one-eighth of a second.
A major problem in the operation of water jet looms is that proper sizing materials are not available. The shed opening on the looms is so small and the electronic controls are so fine, that fuzzy yarns either transfer with the jets or tend to trip the stop motion which will stop the loom within one-eighth of a second. For example, serious shedding problems (lack of adhesion) have been noted with an 85/15 acrylate ester/ammonium acrylate copolymer size. Further, a low molecular weight polyacrylic acid size gave poor flow-out on nylon and exhibited great tackiness when exposed to the 100% humidity. There is a definite need for improved synthetic sizes for use on water jet looms.